Brixham Community Church Podcast Brixham Community Church

Paul Black, Sunday 16th July 2023

https://youtu.be/pYhg7HPDwes

https://youtu.be/zjSKazER_NM









Notes:







Hebrews 13:1-21 Things we should never forget







Introduction







Why Hebrews was written







Main theme: BETTER. For example read 12:18-24. More later







Now, in the final chapter, the writer wants to emphasise things that Christians should never







forget. Vv. 2, 3, 7, 16.







A DON’T FORGET WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR YOU







V12 Jesus has died for us (as a sin offering v 11), to make us holy, fit for heaven







V9 This is by his grace, not by religious ceremony. What we have is BETTER. We







have:







A better sacrifice (9:23), a better covenant (8:6), better promises (8:6), a







better hope (7:19), a better country (11:16), and better and lasting







possessions (10:34).







B WHAT GOD EXPECTS OF YOU







VV 15-16 To offer sacrifices of praise, confessing his name, doing good (to strangers







[2], to sufferers [3], to spouses [4])







Vv 7+17-19 To remember your leaders – imitate them (7), obey them (17), pray for







them (18-19)







V5 To be content with what you have







C WHAT GOD HAS PROMISED YOU







V 5 He will never leave you







V6 He will help you







V 14 Your heavenly home is waiting for you







D WHO JESUS IS







V 8 The same – his love, his compassion etc.







V 20 He is the risen Christ







He is the great shepherd







Our equipper







Worthy of glory for ever and ever

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25-Jun-2023







Ephesians 2:20-22







19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.







I have been spending some time looking at the re-built temple in the Old Testament; how the returning exiles from Babylon had to rebuild a derelict temple. I have reminded us of the New Testament imagery of the temple as depicting both Christian individuals (1 Corinthians 6:19 – your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit) and the church:







1 Corinthians 3:16-17







16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.







Back in the Old Testament, the temple was a sacred and holy place. People came from miles around to worship, to bring their sacrifices, to celebrate amazing festivals, and to seek God’s presence. Here in the New Testament we see that we as God’s temple are still just as sacred! 1 Cor 3:17 says that this temple is so sacred that if anyone destroys it, God will destroy that person.







My daily readings have this week taken me to 1 Kings 6 which tells us all about the building of the original temple, built by Solomon.







As I read the details of the building of this spectacular building, constructed to give glory to God and symbolise the place of his presence, one verse stood out to me. Let’s read a portion of that chapter and I bet you can’t guess which verse it is!







1 Kings 6







14 So Solomon built the temple and completed it. 15 He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, panelling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and covered the floor of the temple with planks of juniper. 16 He partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 17 The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long. 18 The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.







19 He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. 21 Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22 So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.







The verse that stood out to me was this:







18 The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.







I said you wouldn’t guess it!







The reason? First we see that the temple was made of ‘dressed stone’, meaning each stone was shaped and finished, rather than rough and raw from the quarry. This means it didn’t need to be covered up, plastered over or concealed with render as such. It was presentable as it was. If you go into some of our most ornate and beautiful ancient buildings today you will often see exposed...

https://youtu.be/RWiQsPMHEOo









SERMON NOTES







RECAP FROM 21ST MAY 2023 SERMON - WE ALL NEED OUR OWN PERSONAL CALL AND ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS.







Romans 12:2 - Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.







I highlighted some of the hindrances to that happening – Our Fears; Not listening to God; and the way we can come with ‘Confirmation Bias’, only wanting to hear what we have decided we want to hear.  







Last time I briefly spoke about NEAGATIVE THINKING - Most of us have used the phrase ‘what is the worst that can happen’ in relation to something we might be trying for the first time. Verity mentioned a few weeks ago at one of our Leadership Meetings, ‘what’s the best that can happen’.







I mentioned the game of bowls?  Where the Bowling Ball – is not a perfect sphere – and has an inbuilt bias, which always turns away – like our thoughts seem to turn to worry and negativity. THE BIBLE’S ANSWER IS TO HAVE A POSITIVITY







Philippians 4:8 shows us the antidote to Negative Thinking  – which FOCUSSES ON THE POSITIVE. -  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.







WE HAVE TO REALISE THAT OUR THINKING  - POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE - AFFECTS OUR ACTIONS AND THE WAY WE BEHAVE.







We looked at the account of Peter Walking on the Water because Jesus told him to come. - Matthew 14:22-33 - Jesus Walks on Water – After the feeding of the 5,000 –







PETER WALKED ON WATER – THE CALL OF JESUS ‘PERSUADED HIM TO HAVE THE FAITH (BE PERSUADED TO GET OUT OF THE BOAT) – WHEN HE WAS NEAR TO JESUS BUT SOMETHING HAPPENED THAT CAUSED HIM TO DOUBT.







(Matt 14:31) – SG1365 - distazo: (dis-tad'-zo) to waver, doubt; to hesitate (Verb) -  -







1365 distázō (from 1364 /dís, "two, double" and 4714 /stásis, "stance, standing") – properly, going two ways, shifting between positions; choosing "a double-stance" and so vacillate (waver) – fluctuate in opinion or resolution; (fig) uncertainty at a crossroads because refusing to choose one way over the other – to halt between two opinions (views, beliefs).  (There are times when we just over think it)







SO HERE, PETER’S THINKING COMING BACK INTO PLAY – Is he going to continue in the faith imparted to him to get out of the boat in the first place, which has brought him this far, OR is he going to take into account the storm and wind blowing against him.







WHAT DID PETER DO – THE ONLY SENSIBLE THING HE COULD DO – HE CRIES OUT, “Lord, save me!” 31Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter.







WHY DID YOU DOUBT JESUS ASKED – IT WAS THE DOUBT WHICH CAUSED HIM TO BEGIN TO SINK (even “beginning to sink was a miracle” OF Jesus Grace)







SO PETER WALKED ON THE WATER BECAUSE JESUS CALLED HIM TO DO IT - FAITH WAS IMPARTED TO HIM SO HE BELIEVED HE COULD – NOTICE NO OTHER DISCIPLE GOT OUT OF THE BOAT.







Watching a documentary on King Charles last Saturday  - Coronation Day - 7th May 2023 – Charles, was I believe in Westminster Abbey, listening to the Choristers Singing.  Music has very important place in his life and he said this:-







WE DO NOT THINK MUSIC; WE RESONATE WITH IT AND FEEL IT - IT SOMEHOW HARMONISES WITH OUR OWN HUMAN NATURE, SO WE FEEL SOMETHING IS MEANT BY IT.







I WAS MOVED BY THESE WORDS. THE THOUGHT CAME TO ME THAT THEY COULD BE DESCRIBING “FA...

https://youtu.be/xJ15pEqaaA8









Weak is the new strong







I’ve heard a few phrases with ‘is the new’ inserted into them. It’s used to say something is the new fashion or has replaced something else.







Fish is the new meat, hair is the new hat, brown is the new black, in this office, jeans and a t-shirt are the new business suit. Age 50 is the new 40. Paul McCartney said that meat-free is the new rock n roll! I prefer the old!







When I started working four days a week at school instead of five, I loved Thursdays. Thursday was the new Friday.







Today we will learn that for the Christian, weak is the new strong. But first, let’s lead into this from the context of some previous talks.







Returning and rebuilding







We have been looking at the first 6 chapters of Ezra which depict a returning remnant from Babylon rebuilding the altar and the temple under the governance of a man called Zerubbabel. We have seen that there has been opposition to the build.







I have drawn parallels between the Old Testament temple and our New Testament understanding that our bodies, and the body of Christ are temples that are to be built up.







Equally, there is an enemy at work to infiltrate, discourage and destroy the building of God’s kingdom.







Thankfully Jesus keeps his promises, and one of those promises states clearly that I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matthew 16:18. We are simply his co-labourers.







Today I want us to focus in on one well-known line in the book of Zechariah which was delivered while the temple was still under construction:







So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. Zechariah 4:6







As the temple was being rebuilt, God had to remind his people that it was not by their own might, power or strength that the temple would be built, but by his Spirit. This might seem odd, as it was only a building project. Just bricks and mortar. But it was a spiritual building because it was God-ordained. And that meant that there would be an enemy.







Opposition to the build







The devil does not hinder the work of those who wish to build temples to their own gods, things in their own name, business built just to serve the money-god Mammon.







But when we begin to build something that he has ordained, Satan is up in arms.







Thus, when we build our own temple – our personal spiritual edification and growth, or the growth of the wider body – Satan will surely come against it. We know that there is a spiritual realm and that there are invisible forces at work.







For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesian 6:12







Precious Dust







In the light of this we may feel pretty weak. And despite our victory in Christ and the fact that we are seated in heavenly places where God has put all things under his feet (Ephesians 1:22-23), in the natural we are pretty weak.







After all, look where we came from:







Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:7







The Hebrew for man is Adam but that word itself sounds like the word for ‘ground’. Man is but dust!